Death Love and Rock 'n Roll
by Hrunting
Summary: Post BtVS S5 Ozfic. Oz moseys into a new town to find a new werewolf being hunted and an old aquantance on the prowl.
1. Eleanor

Title: Death Love and Rock 'n Roll  
EMAIL: crc@crcdesign.net  
SUMMARY:   
DISCLAIMER: I have no claims to Oz, any other Buffy-related characters or the stories surrounding them. Original characters and the plot of this story are mine.  
DISTRIBUTION: If you want it, great! Please let me know.  
FEEDBACK: I'd love some.  
RATING: PG (for a little language and some violence)  
AN: This draft is a little rough right now, but I'm smoothing it out as I go along. Please let me know what you think!  
  
  
  
"You're joking, right?" asked the tall brunette, watching her fellow covenmates wander off now that the circle was broken.  
  
Eleanor just looked at her, trying to convey a sincere "No, I'm serious" with just her eyes. If she actually had to say it, this was probably a dead end.  
  
The head witch got the message and took a deep breath. She wished they could find someplace else to hold these meetings. That nasty, musty smell from all these old books in the basement of the occult shop was ... well, nasty. It made her nose itch. This girl worked here, maybe she was getting high on the dust and mildew - maybe she was getting high on something else - she obviously a problem. "Well, I don't really feel comfortable offering you advice, but I do know someone who might be able to help."  
  
Apparently Eleanor had been holding her breath, because she let out a long one. It seemed like she should say something, but the hope that she wasn't entirely nuts - that someone else had been through this and could help her - choked anything else back.  
  
"A couple of the girls have had problems during spells. You know, seeing things; Believing that the 'magic' is like, fairy-tale real. They went to this psychologist over in Oakland. He seems to have helped a lot."  
  
"You mean the magic... A psychologist? But I was hoping..."  
  
"Oh honey, you thought our 'coven' was all about casting spells and making pencils float and stuff?" asked the witch. "I really think you should go see Dr. Hartram. He...."  
  
"No. No, I already saw a psychologist a couple times. It... didn't work out very well."  
  
'Didn't work out well? That's one way to put it,' thought Eleanor. 'And neither did Napoleon's strategy at Waterloo. Or Custer's attack on the Sioux. Yeah, when you eat someone, the session didn't work out well.'  
  
***  
  
The orange light of dawn nibbled at the eastern edge of a night marked by a nearly full moon, painting the black and white zebrastripe van more of a tiger scheme as it sped south along I-79, close enough to Pittsburgh to get a good cell phone signal.   
  
"Gregg? Hey, I got your e-mail yesterday," said Oz into the hands-free set.   
  
"I'm pulling into town now, tomorrow should be fine," he said, taking down directions with his free hands.   
  
"Well, I downloaded the MP3s from your site, sounded pretty cool to me."   
  
"I hope so," he said, pushing the "no" button on his phone to disconnect.  
  
'Pretty good,' thought Oz. 'I'm not even in town yet and I have a shot at playing with a cool band. Now as long as they aren't too picky about how good their new guitar player is, things will be set.'  
  
***  
  
A string of sleigh bells applauded merrily as Oz stepped into the little occult bookshop just around the corner from where he parked the van. Unfortunately, he didn't have any leads in Pittsburgh on mystical powers that might help increase his control over the wolf. That mage in Cleveland had been a dead end except for the newspaper sitting on his dining room table with an ad for the band Oz was about to audition for, but it never hurt to browse. As soon as he crossed the threshold though, Oz knew. There's just nothing like the musk of another werewolf - a female werewolf. A quick scan of the room didn't show anyone looking up at him with return recognition. In fact the only other person there was the woman behind the counter so engrossed in her book she didn't seem to have noticed his arrival. He headed for the steps running down from the middle of the floor. Yup, thought Oz, definitely downstairs. Sniffing the air in this place brought back some interesting memories. High school, Willow, graduation, Willow, Giles... mostly Willow. It was still painful to think about her, but the musty smell of old books was a good one, generally. Comforting.  
  
Oz descended the steps slowly, not quite sure what to expect. The few times he'd run into a female werewolf unexpectedly, things always tended towards the extreme. Either they wanted to mate with him, or they wanted to eat him. Sometimes both. The look he got from the short strawberry blonde shelving books at the other end of the room as her glasses slid to the very tip of her nose in surprise told him a lot about this particular werewolf. 'A newbie,' he thought. 'I'm the first werewolf she's ever met. Well, the second obviously. Becoming a werewolf requires a meeting, but you can't smell that coming.'  
  
'She'll probably freak if I just walk right up to her,' he figured. So at that moment Oz developed an intense interest in whatever books were on the shelf right in front of him.   
  
"Huh." 'Transgender issues and fiction. Interesting choice. They get a whole section? What kind of occult bookstore is this?' After looking at just enough titles to get some really disturbing mental images, Oz risked a look up at the girl and found her still staring at him.  
  
Eleanor jolted a bit from her daze when he looked up. She was still feeling the . . . desire? No, Not like some common lust - the guy was cute but that wasn't it. Considering the books he was studying she figured he was the last thing she needed. But it was something strange - primal. She walked up to him, what kind of employee would she be if she ignored the only customer in the store? "Is there anything I can help you find? We don't have much on... this, but some of the titles we don't stock we can get from the publisher."  
  
"Huh? Oh, no I'm good. Quite a selection."  
  
"Well, we pride ourselves on catering to the alternative communities that can't find many books anywhere else. Wiccans, Herbalism, the transgendered... not that...."  
  
"Werewolves?"  
  
"What?" cried Eleanor, backing up and looking at her hands. Was she changing? That only happened at night last time!  
  
"Hey, wait. Listen, it's OK. I just needed to be sure you knew."  
  
"Knew what? Why?"  
  
"What you are. What we are." 


	2. Lives in a dream

Another van pulled into Pittsburgh that afternoon, exploding from the Fort Pitt Tunnel to a postcard view of the city while the blonde 16 year old woman at the wheel tried to figure out which freaking lane she needed to be in.  
  
"Take the first exit on your right Jo, then cross at the Smithfield Street Bridge. There's an antique store I need to stop at and then a park we're going to check tonight," came a voice from the back of the van. An older man, grey haired and plenty scarred, supplied the directions as he fingered a newspaper clipping about the bizarre mutilation of a local doctor in a Southside park.   
  
Jo just nodded and did as he said. Teach knew where he was going. He always seemed to know where he was going.  
  
***  
  
"Yeah, well it only happens at the full moon and the days before and after, so it's not like you can't live life. All pretty Hollywood, I know, but...." Oz just shrugged and lifted his mug for another sip of coffee waiting for the tale to sink in. Once the girl - 'Ellie' she said her name was - realized he was serious and that he was actually talking about what was happening to her she'd pretty much shut down. Her boss seemed pretty concerned as she just walked out in a daze, followed by some guy she hadn't even realized was in the store. It was lunchtime though, so Oz figured they could grab a bite and he could try to explain a few things. He could tell she was still listening, trying to think about what he was telling her... but it really was a lot to take.  
  
Oz took a little pressure off her, slouching back in his seat and looking around the diner to see if anyone had been listening. It didn't matter much if they had. Anyone hearing this story who hadn't been through it would figure they were discussing a book or a TV show or something, not howl-at-the-moon real life. It was a neat place in a way. Straight out of the 50s stereotype: black and white "linoleum" tile, gold-flecked white tables, greasy eggs and burnt toast that gave the place a distinctive "breakfast" smell all day long. Tom's Diner Huh? Just like the song. He'd have to remember this place.  
  
When the waitress came around and offered Oz some more coffee it seemed to bring Ellie out of her daze. She asked for a cup herself, though if water wasn't strong enough, Oz doubted coffee would be much help. The waitress grabbed an unused mug from the table next to them and filled it for Ellie before pretty much finishing the pot into Oz's mug. Funny, that burnt toast and eggs smell seemed to be coming straight out of the coffee pot... Oz shrugged and took a sip.  
  
"But you think it can be controlled? I mean I tried a couple spells - simple stuff - I never really believed in magic except as... I don't know: metaphor? Wishful thinking? I... don't think it did any good. I kinda blacked out - I don't remember what happened, but my apartment was pretty torn up." As was her conscience. Should she tell him about the psychologist? Would he understand?  
  
"Yeah, it's pretty rough. I spent a few nights in chains. Actually quite a few nights locked in a cage in my high school library." He smiled, trying to reassure her and doing a fairly poor job with these tales. "But for the past few months I haven't changed. It isn't easy, but I *can* control it."   
  
  
"But how? I mean, I even asked a coven in town for help and let's just say I found them... lacking in magic."  
  
"Huh. Yeah, I've heard that before. Spells alone aren't really gonna cut it though. They can help, but outside forces aren't the solution. They can suppress things some, but you have to learn to control the wolf - and to do that, you have to embrace the wolf not push it away."  
  
Ellie's look was half incomprehension, half apprehension, but she managed to ask, "How? I mean, I just don't know what to do?"  
  
"No, I know. Neither did I. But I've learned a few things. I can try to help, but you have to promise to do something for me."  
  
Add suspicion to the list. "Promise you? What?  
  
"Come watch me audition tomorrow afternoon."  
  
***  
  
Teach left the antique shop satisfied with the deal he'd made and showed Jo the jewelry he'd picked up. "Whaddaya think?"  
  
"It's hideous," she said, curling her lips and shielding her eyes in an only slightly exaggerated expression of her true opinion.  
  
Teach chuckled and unlocked the back of the van. "Yeah, it's pretty gaudy, huh? I don't have much taste in women's finery, but this stuff's real silver. Perfect for the two of us."  
  
They climbed in the van and set the two necklaces in the little pot atop a Coleman camping stove and ignited the flame. The necklaces slowly dissolved into a shiny puddle. Teach then poured the molten metal into a prepared casting mold and set them aside to cool. They drove off to the park, walked around scouting the area and decide this is just the sort of place to find what they're looking for. Teach then goes back into the van and breaks the silver bullets out of their mold.  
  
Jo's eyes gleam, "ooh, much prettier this way."  
  
Teach smiles at the girl's enthusiasm and tosses them at her. "You like 'em so much, spend a little time with them. Make sure even the slightest rough spot gets filed down or it'll jam like a bastard."  
  
***********************************************************************  
**A/N: Obviously this section needs to be 'written'. Romance really isn't my   
**strong point, but I'll get to it. If anyone would like to help me out, let me know.  
***********************************************************************  
They have an early dinner and Oz must escape to the bathroom to fight some willow-connected thoughts but eventually settles down. discuss his audition, fact they're letting him practice there beforehand, what songs he's playing, some basic control techniques explains that even if they work together for the next month she won't be where she wants to be. She wouldn't mind a roomate - just a roomate mind you though she's finding it way to easy to get along with Oz and he's finding it disturbingly easy to think of her as just another willow. and returns to her place. Fire escape: (the place is small, this little veranda is like another room, usually eat out here). Checks out the bathroom she locks herself in and finds it ok, but misses a hidden way out she looked at while he was checking but didn't mention. The beast is subversive and wants let out. 


	3. All the lonely people

Jo sat on a splintery old park bench watching the eastern horizon darken over the river as the sun set behind her, buffing her fingernails on the faded jeans she always wore on full-moon nights. Her 'battle-gear' Teach jokingly called it. Not that he was without his rituals and superstitions.  
  
She looked up at him, about a hundred yards away, further up the hill and away from the river. He was gently stroking his rifle, tucked neatly under a ratty oilskin duster. He really cut a striking figure - for an old guy anyway. Silhouetted against the setting sun, like some kind of avenging hero. Her hero. The rifle and jacket were about the only things he treated with affection. 'Well, there's me,' she thought, 'I guess...'  
  
Jo was distracted as a young couple, maybe 15 or 16 walked up the path that led back into the more secluded groves in the park. Jo listened to their furtive whispers, the girl's little giggle, the boy's nervous laugh. So, a couple of teenagers think they can hold hands in the park? Make out under the stars by the river? Maybe in a fair world. Not in this one.  
  
***  
  
Teach checked his watch, looked at the western horizon as the sun finally slipped out of sight and figured right about now their target would be starting it's hunt. It's right, he thought, but confused. The little wolfie will be part of a hunt tonight - but it has no idea who will be doing the hunting.  
  
Teach glanced behind him to his right at a couple kids walking through the park. He saw Jo glance over at them and knew she was thinking the same thing he was: perfect bait!  
  
***  
  
The kids were barely past Jo when she caught some motion in the deepening shadows of the woods to her right. It seemed awfully early for the wolf to be here... unless it lived awfully close by - or had been in position to use this as it's hunting ground tonight. Her hand closed around the grip of the rifle under the blanket she had over her lap and she searched the shadows for more. Some sign, something to aim at. Suddenly, a grey form shot straight up the path, headed directly toward the young couple.   
  
So engrossed were they in each other that the couple didn't realize anything was up until Teach got a shot off, missing to his right. Either he was playing it safe with the couple or he wasn't leading the wolf by enough. The latter seemed more likely with Teach.  
  
Jo had a perfect shot lined up right between the two when they looked forward and saw what was charging them. They reached for each other, embracing and blocking her shot. Sure. Love will save you, huh?  
  
Faced with this combined target, the wolf pounced on both of them, ripping the girl's throat out with one vicious bite and tearing at the guy's chest with its massive claws. Teach squeezed out another round just as the wolf's jaws were closing on the boy and missed again - pretty much taking the girl's head off as the silver bullet flattened going through her skull, splattering the wolf with blood. Jo was again just about to fire right between the beast's eyes when it bolted up the hillside and into the woods right past Teach, pounding the side of his gun, trying to clear a jam and starting off in pursuit.  
  
Jo walked over to the two victims and looked down at the claw marks and a big chunk taken out of the boy's shoulder. He was conscious but in shock and looking up at her like he had no idea what he was seeing. The ground around them was soaked with blood, most of it probably from his girlfriend. His injuries would scar, given a chance but he hadn't bled much. Thing was, his injuries wouldn't have a chance to scar. Once bitten by a were, you were pretty surely going to become one yourself. Fresh human scars don't last long on a werewolf.  
  
Jo put the barrel of her rifle to the boy's head, turned to see if she could tell which way Teach was tracking the beast and pulled the trigger. 


	4. Where do they all come from?

Things were looking up. Sure, it wasn't easy - a few times during the night, Oz's thoughts had wandered lustfully to a redheaded vixen of a schoolgirl he once knew, or predatorily to images of another woman's blonde hair in his muzzle. But he'd been able to deal with those urges, accept that they were a part of his thinking for now and let them go. No physical changes had taken place. Definitely a good night, and now the pressure was easing as dawn began to peek through the curtains of Ellie's living room. He was extinguishing some incense and collecting some herbs he'd scattered in a circle around himself when he heard a loud thump in the bathroom. Actually Ellie had been oddly quiet in there all night...  
  
Oz walked over to the bathroom door and knocked. "You okay in there?"  
  
"Huh? Oh, yeah, just getting up," answered a naked Eleanor, looking at her blood-smeared face in the mirror.  
  
Oz nodded, then realized she couldn't see that through the door and said, "hey um, whenever you're ready I wouldn't mind a turn in the bathroom. It's been a long night." With no response but the sound of the shower turning on and cloth rustling, Oz undid the outside lock and turned to go sit on the couch and cross his legs when he noticed something and sniffed the air with a puzzled look on his face. "You sure you're ok?"  
  
Ellie opened the door and the scent of blood was even stronger, mixed with the musk of werewolf and the sweat of her now human, and very naked body in the doorway. There was rage and... something else in her eyes. She'd reverted form, but the wolf was still there, gleaming through her pale blue eyes. "I said I was fine, just how closely do you want to check?"  
  
Oz backed off, pretty sure that their human-to-human relationship hadn't reached the naked in the bathroom stage and let her get back to her shower.  
  
*******************************  
  
It wasn't really cold as September mornings go, but Jo shivered as she watched the two step through the window of her apartment onto the fire escape for breakfast. The beast had left such a trail of bloody pawprints and frightened pedestrians in its path, it hadn't been hard to catch up in time to see the beast climbing that same fire escape. "So," she said aloud to herself, "which one of you is the murderous little fucker who killed those two last night?"  
  
Teach chuckled in the back where he was re-filing thier ammunition and leaned forward to look up at the two. With his head between the seats nearly touching her, she could feel his heat radiating against the skin of her arm, tingling across her chest. He hadn't shown any anger at her for apparently failing to prepare thier silver bullets well enough. He'd just started working them into proper shape when they'd settled into stakeout mode in the van. It seemed like he couldn't show her any emotion. Not even anger.   
  
"Well, my money's on the girl. You've seen male werewolfs; you can usually... tell." And there it was. The man could be opening a discussion that included talking about sex - at least they could discuss *another* guy's dick - but he skirted around it. No embarrasment, it just wasn't a topic between them. "Of course, this all begs the question of how one of them could survive if the other's a were."  
  
"You think it's both of them?" she asked, trying to push aside her other thoughts in the face of what he was suggesting.  
  
"I dunno really. I'm sure we were only tracking the one last night. Another must have been pretty quiet about terrorizing the neighbors if it got out. Maybe he lives in another apartment and just stopped over for breakfast?"  
  
"Speaking of..."  
  
***  
  
Jo was just coming out of a nasty little place called Tom's Diner with some breakfast to-go when she saw the two suspected weres headed straight at her. After a glance at the van to see that Teach was watching them and getting ready to pull out into traffic, though facing the wrong way, she turned in the direction they were headed and walked slowly in front of them.  
  
They passed her but it wasn't long before they stopped and the girl pulled out some keys to unlock a bookshop. 'So, you work at an occult bookshop. Cozy little place for a demon dog to spend her days,' thought Jo, turning away to see Teach pull up beside her in the van.  
  
"I'll stick around here and keep an eye on the girl. You see where the guy goes and let me know if you find anything." Teach pulled out left and parked in a public lot across the street.  
  
The two seemed to be having some kind of awkward discussion, but Jo couldn't really make out what it was about. They were both saying "sorry" and something about an audition. The girl seemed especially sorry and maybe embarrased about something. Standing there trying to look non-suspiciously like she was waiting for the guy in the van to come over and meet her she couldn't get much more.  
  
The guy never went into the bookshop, he stood at the door for a few moments then headed off down the street. After letting him get about a 3/4 block head-start, Jo followed. When he turned down a side street she sped up a bit and just barely caught sight of him turning left into the back parking lot of a nightclub.  
  
Creeping alongside the building, trying to stay unnoticed, Jo saw the guy pull an electric guitar out of his van, lock the door and head in through the back of the club.  
  
Sure, he locked the door, but Jo knew how to break into cars before she knew how to drive one. "First things first," Teach had said. "You learn how to get inside, then you learn what to do once you're there."  
  
The exterior pant-job suggested it, but the van's interior made it clear: this guy was weird. Deep-pile shag carpeting on the floor, what she could only think of as 'tapestries' on the walls, a bookshelf, candles... shackles? Yup, two pairs of shackles, chained together, with a tether bolted to the floor. Either the guy was serious about his bondage or this van was set up to hold a werewolf.  
  
Surprisingly, the shackles were clean: no fur there. The contents of the bookshelf were more illuminating.   
  
A yearbook that looked like it had been pulled out of a bonfire showed that Daniel Osborne (apparently nicknamed "Oz") was a 1998 graduate of Sunnydale High in California - and a guy with some strangely named friends. Buffy? Xander? Cordy? Must be a California thing. And apparently he had been more than "friends" with a girl named Willow. Well, all this was interesting, but '98 was ancient history.   
  
There were other books on the shelf, next to "A Rhythm Guitar God's Guide to Spiritual Enlightenment" sat a dog-eared copy of "Beowulf". Hmmm... Jo had never read it, but even misspelled, it did have wolf in the title. Some very old-looking books on various mythical creatures, heavy on the shapeshifting, filled other sections. More pictures of Oz, his band, and his friends. One odd photo showed a blonde girl Jo recognized as "Buffy" from the yearbook with a guy who's reflection wasn't showing in the mirror beside them. Odd trick, that. But down among the store of herbs in the bottom shelf of the bookcase was the jackpot: a little zip-lock bag of coarse grey fur.  
  
Jo got out of the van with her prize, relocked the door and went to check on "Oz". The place was still locked up at this time of the morning, but she could see him on the stage with a guy holding a bass guitar jamming on some straight old fashioned blues riff. The bassline was thick but low and she could feel the pain of the strings on Oz's guitar when he sent it up into a wail. 'Huh,' she thought. 'The beast can actually play.'   
  
***  
  
Teach wasn't startled when she flung the side door of the van open after circling around to come up on him from behind. Sometimes it seemed like nothing really affected him. He just asked, "Find anything interesting?"  
  
"You could say that." She shook her little baggie of fur. "Time to break out the chemistry set to be sure."  
  
It didn't take long to verify that it was, in fact werewolf fur. Just simmer a little wolfsbane, dip a strand and see if it suddenly turns white and brittle. Verifying that it was male was a bit more complicated. DNA testing would have worked of course, but that was well beyond their little Econoline setup. There are however some distinctive acidity differences between male and female were's that were entirely within their ability. 


	5. Where do they all belong?

Oz and Billy, bassist, equipment manager and "talent scout" for the band "Emim" were jamming to an old Billy Myles tune, while Billy the bassist pitched out the lyrics in a soulful, gravelly voice completely different from the stoner giggle he spoke with:  
  
Have you ever loved a woman  
So much you tremble in pain?  
Have you ever loved a woman  
So much you tremble in pain?  
And all the time you know  
She bears another man's name.  
[...]  
Have you ever loved a woman  
And you know you can't leave her alone?  
Have you ever loved a woman  
And you know you can't leave her alone?  
Something deep inside of you  
Won't let you wreck your best friend's home.  
  
  
Oz took off on a riff to finish out the tune, taking direction more from B.B. than (no relation) Freddie King, barely resisting the temptation to distort the hell out of the finale just to mock the feelings it brought out. 'Oh, she sure doesn't bear another man's name,' he thought, 'but I've trembled in pain a few times.'  
  
"Shit, yeah man! Damn, I wish we could pull some a that out for the show. Blow these mullets outta the water," Billy said, pulling the bass off his shoulder and reaching out to tap Oz. "Oh, you're so in man. I can't wait to get on with a gig with you."  
  
"So, we're not? I mean playing blues. What do we play?"  
  
"Oh, 'original' rock stuff mostly. But real simple on the guitar. Last axman we had was some lame shrink didn't know punk from alternative. I'll go over it with you, but I don't think you'll have a problem. Just don't play too loud when Jeff's singing, ya know what I'm saying.  
  
"Hey, you know," he said, leaning towards Oz conspiratorially, "maybe with you in the band, we can step things up a notch." Billy's grin grew." Yeah, Sam - she's the drummer, a real hell-beast on the skins and hot to look at too, but don't try anything, she's been all for Jeff for months now... um. I... oh yeah, maybe with the three of us together we could push him on moving to some more intense stuff."  
  
Oz nodded his head; pretty sure he'd understood most of what he was hearing. "So... stay away from the drummer then."  
  
"Well, yeah, but it wouldn't hurt to let Jeff know you kinda dig her, you know? He kinda likes to have his ego stroked a bit, let him know he has somethin' worth havin'."  
  
"Uh huh."  
  
***  
  
"Maybe we should let her know?"  
  
"Aw, come on, Jo. First of all, *we* don't *know* she isn't a werewolf. You saw that bathroom - it'd just been scrubbed clean. Living room carpet vacuumed. Even if she had shedded in that apartment, we wouldn'ta found anything."  
  
"But doesn't she have the right to..."  
  
"And if she isn't one," he continued over her, patient but insistent, "how are you gonna explain it? Make her believe there are werewolves in our midst?"  
  
"Maybe she doesn't have to. Maybe she just needs to know that he's... dangerous."  
  
"Well, we're going to take care of that problem aren't we?"  
  
"We'll try. But we tried last night and maybe we'll need one more night to finish the job," she said averting her eyes and trying not to remember that had she prepared their ammunition properly last night, they could be rolling out of town tonight.  
  
"I'm not going to miss again, Jo. We *will* take care of this problem tonight."  
  
"Think of it as contingency planning. Or a way to keep her out of the way while we take care of business, eliminating a variable. Look, I don't see what the problem is, you told me all about it when... well, before I was nearly ready to hear it."  
  
"No one is ever ready to hear that the monsters are real, Jo. But you already knew. You watched your... you watched him change and tear her apart."  
  
"She deserves to know."  
  
***  
  
"I don't know. I mean, I really have a lot of work to do," said Eleanor, turning back to the half-shelved latest shipment from Watcher's Press.  
  
"It'll just take a minute. It's... it's about Oz."  
  
Eleanor looked back at the woman. She was maybe 20, but probably not. She looked worn and haggard whatever her age. Even in clothing as substantial as those faded jeans and brown leather jacket she was that epitome of mid-90s waifishness typified by vegans and heroin addicts. That close-cropped hair did nothing to accentuate any femininity. Sometimes Ellie wished she looked like that... "Oh, you ah, know Oz?"  
  
"Uh, sure. In some ways maybe better than you."  
  
Eleanor cocked an eyebrow at that, set down the copy of "The Memoirs of Sid: A Dummy's Guide to Demon Hunting" she was about to shelf and waited for more; unsure whether she should be worried or amused. 'Let me guess...' she thought.  
  
"See, he's," Jo's voice dropped to a whisper, "he's a werewolf."  
  
Eleanor couldn't hold back a sudden burst of laughter, equally releasing nervous tension and genuinely laughing at the situation. Why be worried or amused when you can be both? "Is he? He's a werewolf, huh?"  
  
"Look, I know it's hard to accept... to understand," said Jo, mistaking Ellie's reaction as pure disbelief, "but I saw him last night. Did you hear about those two kids in Riverfront Park?"  
  
"Yeah," said Eleanor growing increasingly nervous now. She had heard about them and had tried not to think about it. Had tried not to think about who's blood she'd watched run down the shower drain that morning. "But didn't... wasn't one of them shot? I mean, you're telling me that a werewolf shot someone?"  
  
"No," said Jo, trying not to show any guilt herself. She didn't feel any for doing what had to be done. Honest. "I don't think he shot anyone. But I know he mauled both of them. I saw it and tracked him back to your apartment. You're lucky you survived, he must have changed back as soon as he got there."  
  
"Changed?" she said, now clearly agitated at hearing that this person had tracked her back to the apartment. "This is ridiculous."  
  
Jo caught the agitation but didn't think about what was really causing it. All she saw was an innocent girl setting herself up to be victimized by an evil beast. Projection can be a dangerous thing. "Look, you know something's up. I can tell. I... I understand. I mean, when you love someone, it can be tough... tough to see just how wrong - how dangerous - how evil they really are."  
  
"Just get out," said Eleanor, now completely frazzled. 'Evil,' she thought? 'Well, what else would you call someone who's ripped three people to shreds... climbed through their bathroom window soaked in blood...  
  
Jo turned to leave, seeing that she wasn't getting anywhere useful, but paused. "Listen, you can't stay. If you stay, you'll end up dead."  
  
Ellie watched the other woman walk out and wondered, "doesn't everybody?"  
  
***  
  
"OK, everybody, we have our man." said Billy, standing in front of everybody - that is, Jeff the singer and Sam the drummer of Emim - and gesturing towards Oz.  
  
"So, you can play? You're ready?" asked Jeff.  
  
"Oh, yeah. He can play. He's the guru of guitar, the ace of the ax, the... the... He can play," said Billy.  
  
"Right, but I mean tonight. You're ready to play tonight, Oz?"  
  
"Tonight? I - I mean I'm free and all, but I don't know your songs," said Oz, a little disconcerted. Well, maybe a lot disconcerted for Oz.  
  
"Well we have 3 hours to showtime," said Sam. And Sam really was pretty hot, Oz had to admit. Hot pink hair over black roots, a Celtic knot tattoo running down from where a guy might have his left sideburn along her collarbone to disappear between her full breasts, only to lead the eyes to a disturbingly obvious nipple ring showing through her black t-shirt. Not at all his type - but maybe his type wasn't what he needed. His type tended to leave him for a girlfriend... or wake up in the bathroom smelling of human blood.  
  
"Wow, man I didn't know we still had this gig tonight. You a quick study, man?" asked Billy.  
  
"That's about the only kind of study I am." 


	6. No one was saved

"There's just no way," she said, marking her book and setting it down on the counter to glare at Ellie unhindered. "I let you start at the crack of dawn, even though we never get much business until after dinner." She tapped gently on the book. "I work the busiest shift alone so you can have your evenings." She slapped her whole palm down. "And you want to leave even earlier? The day after you walk out without a word and take a 2-hour lunch? Not if you want to keep working here." Ellie's boss leaned back in her chair and crossed her arms.  
  
"I know. I'm sorry, really. It's just... I think he's in trouble." Ellie averted her eyes and shuffled sideways a bit.  
  
Her boss sighed, trying to summon enough sympathy to not yell. She waited for Ellie to look up at her and said in a tightly controlled voice, "You just met this guy, right? Do you really want to lose your job over him?"  
  
***  
  
Jo sauntered up along the driver's side of the van and leaned in what she hoped was a seductive pose against the door.   
  
"No luck?" asked Teach without a hint of sarcasm or condescension.  
  
"Not really. I think she knows something's up. I think she knows it's bad. But I don't think she's going to do anything to protect herself."  
  
"Ok... do you think she's a werewolf?"  
  
Jo thought about that one for a few moments. "I don't... No. She seemed... like she felt guilty. Were's don't feel bad about killing, do they?"  
  
"Well, I've never stopped to ask one. But I doubt it." Teach smiled at her and lifted her chin with his left hand to look into her eyes. She could feel a tingle running from where their flesh met, through her jaw and down much lower on her body. He smiled broadly and said, "Let's hit the local club scene, shall we?"  
  
***  
  
Oz was on stage going over one of the tougher parts in the last of Emim's original songs for that night with Billy, amazed at how simple the tough parts really were. 'Compared to this, I was Hendrix with Dingoes Ate my Baby,' Oz thought, reflecting on his role with the band he played with in Sunnydale. A hand fell on his shoulder and he looked up to see Jeff standing behind him. The guitar fell silent in deference to the man who obviously thought of himself as the band's leader.  
  
"Hey man, I saw you checkin' Sam out earlier. I want you to know I understand. She really is smokin', huh?" Oz merely half nodded a somewhat dubious assent. "Well, anyway, I understand - but I want you to understand: she ain't on the block. We've been together for 2 months now and we're doing OK. Don't be starting any internal conflict with the band here over a chick who's taken, right?"  
  
"Hey, not a problem."  
  
***  
  
Jo showed her bad fake ID to the overweight, bald bouncer at the door and stepped inside. Luckily he didn't even look at it since, though she could *maybe* pass as 21; there was no way he'd buy 41. She walked over to the bar, and ordered a Diet Coke. "D.D., you know?" The bartender gave her a funny look, probably trying to figure out if he'd get in trouble for serving an under-age customer Coke after she got past the bouncer. She sunk down into her seat as Teach came up to the bar.  
  
"Hey, gimme a Bourbon on ice and a glass of water." When the drinks came, he laid a 10 on the table and turned toward the stage, sipping his water.   
  
Jo sipped at a watery diet coke and watched Oz between glances at Teach to see if he was noticing any of the other girls in the club.  
  
The band was huddled around their new guitar player sorting out the lineup. From what little she could hear through even the very thin early crowd, he was new to the band and they were working out what cover tunes they all knew. Jo glanced up at the clock.  
  
"You know," she said, not even turning her head towards her companion, "dusk's coming pretty soon."  
  
"Yep."  
  
"And tonight's a full moon."  
  
"Uh-huh."  
  
"So if this guy's a werewolf..."  
  
"I was wondering the same thing."  
  
"Surely he doesn't plan to just go on a rampage in the middle of a set, right? Rip up the whole room?"  
  
"The isolated couple last night was more in-wolf-character," he said, turning the glass of water in his hand, considering. "Unless there's a pack to back him up."   
  
"Like that time in Saint Louis? Wow. We barely made it out of that one."  
  
"It wasn't easy, but it paid off. Those pelts kept us in gasoline and silver for a long time. And some things get easier with practice." He didn't smile, just scanned the room.  
  
Jo's thoughts went back to her conversation with Ellie that afternoon as she watched Teach look at every single person in sight except her. Had the girl said anything to indicate she was a werewolf? Maybe when she got upset it was because Jo was right and she didn't want the fun spoiled. And if there were two, why couldn't there be more? This could be a very good night indeed - or bad, if you're a werewolf.  
  
***  
  
Eleanor stepped out of the shop and glanced at her watch. 10 minutes late already. The band would probably be playing by the time she got there, but she needed to get word to Oz that someone was gunning for him before heading home to her bathroom prison. With luck she'd still have time to secure the bars blocking her bathroom window so she couldn't get out again. Maybe. She headed towards the club at a trot.   
  
Inside, the club wasn't packed, but everyone seemed to be standing in the straightest path between the door and the stage. Jo's head snapped around when she noticed Teach staring at someone by the entrance. "So," she said, "they do have a little party planned here tonight."  
  
They both checked their watches to see that sunset was seriously nigh and fanned out, working to establish firing lanes that included both Oz and Ellie.  
  
Oz couldn't help smiling when Sam had suggested the first song in their set. He grinned again as he started into CCR's "Bad Moon Rising". It was just plain funny. In his amusement, he didn't notice the two hunters flanking him, rifles with collapsible stocks and pure silver ammunition tucked into straps in their jackets. Nor did he notice the short strawberry-blond flailing at him in warning, stumbling as she felt the change start to take hold.  
  
Oz's smile faltered however, when he saw the entire crowd suddenly begin to shift in front of him. It didn't take long to see what they were moving away from: Ellie was sprouting fur, the seams of her dress bursting in their failed attempts to contain the beast she was becoming in the middle of a busy nightclub. He dropped the guitar and stepped in front of Jeff at the mic to say a brief binding spell that should delay the change. For a little while - hopefully long enough to get Ellie out of public, if not to a safe place.  
  
Then he noticed them. A man and a woman at opposite ends of the room were pulling rifles and locking the stocks into place. The man was only a few feet from Ellie to start with and he stepped towards her, raising the gun. Oz charged toward the edge of the stage and Ellie, feeling himself begin to change. Music actually helped him avoid the wolf - it was calming and it gave him something to concentrate on other than his animalistic impulses. But now, faced with an enemy about to shoot his mate, the wolf was struggling to take control.  
  
Teach had a puzzled look on his face. He'd seen werewolfs change often enough that he thought he knew what to expect. This wasn't it. Once the changed started, it finished. There was no half way.  
  
Oz found the groove quickly enough, letting the power flow through him without overrunning him. He leapt - bounded inhumanly - at Teach just at Jo was sighting on him from her position, burying a bullet in an amp and causing a death knell of feedback to echo through the club. The noise was painful to the humans in the club as they rushed the exit, but to the werewolfs in the crowd it was maddening.  
  
  
***  
  
In the barely lit parking lot, a hand clamping over her mouth stifled a young woman's scream. Pain, plenty of that - but something more. Longing? Regret? Understanding? The blood flowed quickly from her slashed carotid into the hungry mouth of her attacker. Her heart was still beating - trying to find something to pump - when he let her slump down from his arms against the side of a black and white painted van. The vampire licked his lips and bent over to rummage through her purse.  
  
Pulling out half a pack of Lucky Strikes, he grimaced at the thought of smoking non-filters but lit up anyway. After a drag or two he heard footsteps approaching him followed by a voice that seemed the perfect mix of feminine sensuality and raw animal sex. "You know those things will kill you?"  
  
The vamp turned, but before his eyes could even meet hers they widened in horror. A thick wedge of ash, whittled from an old baseball bat, was stuck clean through his heart and out his back. The woman pulled the cigarette from his lips before his disintegration claimed it, drew a line with her foot in the pile of dust he had become and licked at some blood his lips had left on the end of the cigarette. She inhaled deeply. The glowing ember illuminated the darkness of a Slayer lost. Less than a minute after speaking her line, Faith pitched the butt and returned to the shadows to avoid a commotion erupting from the nightclub.  
  
***  
  
Ellie slipped back towards wolf form as Oz's charms were disrupted and bolted through the crowd to the door at the side of the stage leading straight into the back parking lot. Teach had no trouble breaking free from Oz to follow as the he-wolf struggled to remain as human as possible. Oz stumbled, fighting animal reflexes to lope after Ellie on four legs when he only had two, and made his way to the door.  
  
When Oz got out to the parking lot, he saw a fully wolfed Ellie charging - but Teach already had his gun sighted. All he had to do was pull the trigger. And he did.   
  
Before Oz saw Ellie die; before the bullet pierced her left eye, soft metal flattening as it traveled through her skull, thoroughly scrambling her brain and blowing the back of her skull against the wall behind her; before his inhumanly acute ears quaked at the detonation of the rifle, or sensed the whine of the bullet splitting air; Oz leapt. This was a stone killer about to pull the trigger. He looked it. He reeked of it. He sent off that vibe of death the way a mother can glow life. Realizing this summoned the wolf. But it was too late.  
  
The werewolf's claws dug into the man's chest, ripping flesh from his ribs and digging down towards the juicy organs inside. The werewolf's teeth sunk into the man's shoulder, about to pull him in two to make the approach to heart, liver, kidneys easier... Then Jo's bullet struck home.  
  
Oz leapt up from the man's body, life quickly draining from it, spreading across the dusty parking lot. That silver burns, man, and it snaps you back to reality. It's all part of the training really. The purity of silver invading the unnatural beast brought Oz back to the surface and he looked back in time to see Jo slide another round into the chamber of her rifle. Oz looked sadly at what was left of Ellie. He looked sadly at what was left of the man who had shot her. Then he ran off into the dark night before the woman sighting on his now human form had a chance to pull the trigger.  
  
Jo didn't bother to give chase. Teach always seemed to find some way to cut off the beast, but there was no way she could catch up with it, even with a silver-bullet wound in one of it's legs. She turned to the van she'd searched that morning and fired into the engine block. She then slid the bolt back to catch another round from the cartridge, pushed it home and fired again at the front of the van. And again. And again. It didn't make her feel even a little better.   
  
Then she turned away from the van with another round in the chamber, walked over to Teach and stood at his feet, watching him draw a ragged breath - unconscious but alive. She raised the rifle to her shoulder. She sighted between his eyes and just above.   
  
She pulled the trigger.  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
*************************************************  
Note: this story continues in the R-rated fic "Building on Faith" 


End file.
